Painted Memories

Forty years after he escaped from Krasne, Wilno, Moshe Schindler began to paint in remarkable detail his childhood creating a visual document that resonates with the vibrancy of Jewish life. He painted the Torah scholars, the peddlers, the Klezmarim and the craftsmen from his village, and the neighboring village of Turka. Through his brushstroke, he captures in all its savor the rich and textured world of his destroyed community of hundreds of years. With humor love and affection his emotional connection to his boyhood village comes to life.
On the eve of the Second World War out of the 1,200 families living in Krasne 70 of them were Jewish. Most of the residents of Krasne earned their livelihood in the neighboring village of Zamosc as merchants.
Upon the occupation of the Germans during the Second World War the lives and possessions of the Jews were destroyed. Moshe’s uncle Rabbi Gissinger his wife Hava their children Fayge, Ital and Yosef were murdered by the hands of the Ukranians. A similar fate fell upon the Jews of Krasne, who are here portrayed in their idyllic setting pre Second World War
Moshe Schindler was 25 years old, when the Germans entered his town. He escaped to Siberia and thus was saved. In Russia he married Zena, an officer in the Medic Corp in the Red Army where their first daughter was born. At the end of the war the family moved to Poland, where their second daughter was born. They came on Aliyah in 1950 and built their home in Tivon. Here in Israel he studied accounting and worked at the Kerat Company and the Israeli Treasury. In Tivon their third son was born. On his retirement in 1980 Moshe Schindler began to paint until 1990 when he died. He painted flowers, Biblical scenes and scenes from his memories of Krasne and its environs which are exhibited here.
This exhibition includes 15 paintings that bring to life the characters, life cycle events and domestic scenes of Krasne and its surroundings, offering us a chance to step into the vibrant world of Jewish life in a small town pre Second World War.

Moshe Schindler

Painted Memories

September-December 2003

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